Cleithrophobia
by iNeedSeriousHelpYouGuys
Summary: The fear of being trapped.
Cleithrophobia. The fear of being trapped.

The mission was simple. We were to enter the abandoned elementary school, and dispel of any low-class demons that were rumored to be lurking about. Nothing to worry about.

But _I'm_ definitely not going to say I agree with that statement. With the "buddy rule" instilled, everyone had to search with one other person to complete the task with. Kamiki and Moriyama had partnered up, along with Shima and Konekomaru, leaving only one person left.

Rin. Well isn't that just fan-fucking-tastic.

Now, don't misunderstand. It's not necessarily that I _hate_ Rin, but I'm wasn't particular fond of the him after the whole situation that happened on the camping trip. The wound was still fresh, and I don't want to be around him right now. But I know this could potentially ruin my grade if I blow it off, so I just continued to walk briskly down the abandoned hallway, Rin trailing off a few feet behind me.

Rin had seemed incredibly uncomfortable this whole time, but I just wrote it off as the creepiness of the elementary school. It's not everyday that one has to trek through a potentially haunted one, after all.

"Hey… Suguro? Why don't we check out another part of the building, this place is giving me weird vibes," I hear from beside me, as Rin seems to unconsciously move closer.

I can see him shudder from my peripheral vision, glancing at the walls nervously. He almost looked like he expected a face to appear, or some kind of bloody message from a horror movie.

"If you're getting a weird vibe from it that's just more reason to look here," I say curtly, not in the mood for Rin's crap right now. He seems dissatisfied with this answer.

"Okay, yeah, you're right, but why don't we come back later after we've checked the other places? There could be a ton of demons out in the yard." At this point, his arguments are just getting annoying, since he clearly just doesn't like the overall creepiness of a fucking dark corridor.

"Then it's safe to say the a ton of demons could just as well be at the end of this hallway, so suck it up and keep walking." This silences him, as he huffs in annoyance and continues to follow while muttering insults under his breath. I refrain from snapping at him, knowing I'll have all the time in the world to do that _after_ we finish the stupid mission.

After a while, it becomes apparent that the walls of the hall are becoming thinner as we go farther down. Rin seems to notice this too, as he keeps glancing between them almost frantically.

Suddenly, the floor begins to shake violently, before splitting open entirely. There's a brief moment where everything is in slow motion, then I hit the cold floor below. I feel my left arm take most of the fall, but see Rin's head slam to the floor. Ouch. That's gonna hurt a lot in the morning.

We seem to have fallen into some sort of old room, completely empty aside from a lantern glowing on the wall. The walls and floor were made of cement, and there are no windows or doors anywhere to be seen. When I look up, there is no hole from where we fell.

Great. Just fucking great. The demons are going to fuck with us now.

The room is a comfortable size, at least, a bit bigger than the average True Cross dorm room. I hear a groan from the other side of it, and look back to see Rin slowly trying to sit up. He looks around for a moment, assessing the room. He stares between the walls, as if attempting to see if the exit is just blending in. He quickly sits up, ignoring the large scratch running down his arm that immediately caught my attention. He's frantically feeling the walls, looking for a crack to see out of, looking for _anything_ really.

"Okumura, hey! Get over here, your arm is bleeding."

He doesn't seem to hear me as his movements become quicker, his breathing shakey and uneven, jerking his head around as he searches the room.

"Okumura! Rin, snap out of it, what's gotten into you?" I yell, trying to get a response. This only seems to make him more upset as he looks as if he's attempting to speak, but only bits and pieces are coming out.

"Can't… _can't…_ can't _br-..._ " his breaths are shallow and messy, like a person coming up for air after being underwater for three minutes straight.

Reality hit me like a train. Rin is having a panic attack. Rin is having a fucking _panic attack._

 **POV Switch**

There's no way out. There are no doors, no windows, no holes, no cracks-

There _has_ to be an exit, there's no way for us to have gotten into the room without a way in-

 _The demon behind this could have gotten rid of the exits-_

They couldn't have accounted for everything, there's probably a crack in the walls so you can see into another room or someth-

 _There's nothing here I've searched the walls three times alrea-_

 _THERE'S A WAY OUT I HAVE TO KEEP LOOKING I JUST KEEP MISSING IT-_

There's no way out. There's no way out. There's no way out there's no way out there's no way outtheresnowayouttheresnowayouttheresnowayouttheresnowayouttheresnowayout _theresnowayouttheresnowayout_ _ **theresnowayouttheresnowayouttheresnowayoutTHERESNOWAYOUTTHERESNOWAYOUTTHERESNOWAYOUT-**_

 _It's just like the time with-_

Need to leave _need to leave_ _ **need to leave**_

 _I need to get out how do I get out? I have to do something I need to bust the wall open I needtofindawayoutofhereohgodohnoicantleaveimstuckinhereineedtogetout_ _ **now**_ _whycantigetoutsomeonekillmeplease-_

 _ **STOP**_

Can't breathe. I can't breathe. I faintly recognize the sound of a voice saying something to me, but right now I only need to focus on _finding a way out of here_ _ **right now-**_

"-Okumura! You need to-"

 _Why isn't there a way out of here? Oh god, there's no way to leave I'm trapped_ _ **I'm trapped**_ _I can't do this please stop no it's-_

"-Calm down! You have to-"

 _ **KILLMEKILLMEKILLMEKILLMEKILLMEKILLMEKILLMEKILLMEKILLMEKILLMEKILLMEKILLMEKILLMEKILLMEKILLMEKILLMEKILLMEKILLMEKILLMEKILLMEKILLMEKILLMEKILLMEKILLMEKILLMEKILLMEKILLMEKILLMEKILLMEKILLMEKILLMEKILLMEKILLMEKILLMEKILLMEKILLMEKILLMEKILLMEKILLMEKILLMEKILLMEKILLME-**_

"-BREATHE!"

I can't see, I can't breathe, but I need to because I need to _find a way out of this room_ -

My thoughts are becoming muddled, all mixing together and screaming, and I can distantly register the feeling of falling and arms wrapping around me before I let the approaching darkness consume me.

 **POV Switch**

Rin can't breathe, that much is obvious, but it seems like everything I say is just white noise right now, and I don't know how to _help_.

"Rin, Rin look at me, I need you to breathe, okay?" No response.

"Rin, can you hear me?" No response.

"Rin, you have to breathe." No response.

"Rin-" Hyperventilating.

" _Rin_ -" Intense trembling.

" _ **Rin**_ -" Tears falling down the sides of his face.

" _ **RIN, BREATHE!**_ "

His eyes become unfocused, and his legs start wobbling unintentionally, and I quickly go to catch him as it clicks that _oh shit Rin is passing out_.

I just hold him like that, staring, half-expecting him to open his eyes and laugh that his prank actually worked.

He didn't.

Instead, he remained unconscious, looking exhausted.

Rin just had a panic attack. My head is swarming with questions, but the sensible part of my brain reasons that I won't get a lot of answers if Rin wakes up only to have another one. Something about this place got to him, and I need to make sure he isn't in here when he wakes up.

After going through verses, I eventually found one that revealed a thin door in the far corner of the room next to the dusty lantern, and quickly carried Rin out before it could disappear. I can't say I was completely surprised to see us back in the main entrance.

I found a nurse's office soon enough and lay him on the bed, hoping he'll be coherent enough to explain what happened when he woke up.

After staring at the wall for about twenty minutes, I hear the sound of clothing shifting, and see him stir. The first thing he does is rub his head, undoubtedly suffering from a bad headache.

He opens his eyes and stares at the ceiling. I wait for him to say something, but he seems extremely self-conscious, probably because _Ryuji Suguro_ of all people witnessed that. Rin had always been against showing weaknesses in front of others, but it was even worse with me. He seemed dead-set on making me think nothing could get to him. This clearly isn't true.

"You okay?" I ask, trying not to sound too concerned for both of our prides' sake.

He remains silent, but his jaw clenches, showing he at least heard me. I suppose that's a good sign.

"I'm sorry you had to see that," he says quietly after an awkward period of silence. He seems embarrassed, and looks like he'd rather be on a round trip to the Vatican then anywhere near here.

"There's no reason to apologize, but an explanation would be appreciated."

He shifts uncomfortably, before sitting up. "I guess so, yeah..."

He begins messing with the hem of his shirt, avoiding eye contact. "I'm not very good at dealing with the feeling of being trapped, y'know? Sometimes, if it gets really bad like today, I can tend to freak out a little bit. It's no big deal, it just makes me uneasy."

"No big deal? _Uneasy?_ Rin, you just had a panic attack, and you want to write it off as nothing important?" I ask, legitimately shocked that he wasn't making a big deal about this. "Do you mean that you have claustrophobia or something?"

"No, not quite… I mean, I can go into small and confined places as long as I know I'll be able to leave when I want to. But if I feel like I'm trapped or stuck somewhere it can get me really on edge sometimes… "

He slowly starts dropping little hints, and with some persuasion and a slip of the tongue I get the problem out of him.

"Cleithrophobia?" I ask, repeating the word he nonchalantly said. His eyes widen, and he looks like he wants to take those words back because he in no way wants to open up about this.

He exhales deeply through his nose, defeated. "Cleithrophobia," he confirms. "The fear of being trapped, pretty much, from what I know." He seems to know quite a bit, as he was talking in-depth of its differences from claustrophobia.

"Have you always had this?" I ask, wondering how I never noticed something like this.

"Well… I've had it ever since you've known me, but it's gotten worse recently. I think it first developed when Satan tried to pull me down through the Gehenna Gate, and I couldn't get out of it, no matter how hard I tried." His voice becomes shakey as he recalls the story. "It was always there, ever since then, but it's been a lot more prominent since the Vatican sealed me in that weird blue stuff. The feeling of not being in control of that kind of thing just doesn't sit well with me."

I think back to times when we had to go on missions in places like this one, and realize that Rin has always seemed particularly uncomfortable in these settings, where you never know if you can or can't get out, but I never realized it was to this large of a scale.

I suddenly start to see Rin in a new light. That demon that was back there shaking and crying, he's half _human,_ too. I feel very ashamed that it took a mental breakdown on his part for me to realize this.

"Hey… let's say the two of us hang out sometime," I say. He looks up, shocked, confusion written all over his features. When he realized I wasn't joking, he chuckled slightly, looking back down at his hands.

"Yeah… I think I would like that."


End file.
